Behind the Racquet Pod with Noah Rubin

After Jeremy Lin's comments recently about being an Asian-American in the NBA, we wanted to explore the same topic in the tennis world, and we brought on Thai-Son Kwiatkowski to dissect the issue. It's never a comfortable discussion, but a pretty damned crucial one.

We also, unexpectedly, went in to some rather deep discussions on the mental health difficulties Thai has faced, and that MANY players on tour are facing, especially those 150+ in the rankings.

As always, we REALLY appreciate your support, texts, tweets, DMs, and all through this last year. Hope we have some more interactions soon!

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After food poisoning wrekt Noah for a week, the boys get back together to mark one year in to the pandemic and still survival mode in terms of the structure at the top of tennis. Where's the cohesion?

Benoit Paire's comments about a lack of passion for the current state of the ATP drew a lot of attention, but was he right?

The ATP put out an infographic this week, claiming that players ranked 100-250 made 60% more money from August to February than they had a year before. That can't be right, can it Noah?

Thanks to all of our patreon supporters! You can further the cause by visiting patreon.com/behindtheracquetpod.

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The pandemic has been difficult for the entire tennis community, and has been well documented. But when @annak4ever posted a graphic this week about the lack of "Challenger level" opportunities for women (just 3 tournaments in the 60-100K prize range from January through March!), it really opened Mike's eyes to the incredible lack of upward mobility available right now on the women's side.

There's no one better qualified to talk about it than Tara Moore. The 28 year old Brit is a member of the ITF Player Panel, and with a current ranking around 200, is one of the players directly impacted by a lack of tournaments with sufficient points to improve her rankings. She walks us through some of the challengers both personally, and globally, for women outside the top 75 in the world.

As always, a huge thank you to our patreon sponsors. You can help by visiting patreon.com/behindtheracquetpod.

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It's Noah's 25th birthday, so the boys get together to celebrate, recap the AO, and recap the last several weeks on multiple different levels.

-Novak's GOAT status

-Naomi's GOAT status

-Brady and Aslan and what it means for "Challenger players"

-Why didn't Noah play last week.

Love from us to you. We appreciate you, very much.

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Thanks so much for the support of the Behind the Racquet Podcast. You can help by visiting patreon.com/behindtheracquetpod.

This week's guest is 23 year old Will Blumberg, who won a national title with his North Carolina Tar Heel teammates at the ITA Division 1 Men's National Indoor Championships in Champaign. His pro career got delayed by covid, but it's just around the corner. We'll talk about that transition, his prolonged collegiate career, and his relationships with some of the best in the game.

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Luke Saville and his partner Max Purcell won seven Challenger doubles titles in 2019, and moved up around 30 spots in the ATP rankings. But they received a much deserved wild card to the 2020 Australian Open, and fought their way to a Grand Slam final.

One year later, the 27 year old (HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAV!) prepares to defend those points in next week's AO; but first, he's part of Team Australia in this week's ATP Cup. It's his first international team appearance for Australia since Junior Davis Cup, when he was one of the two or three most feared players in his age group.

Sav breaks down his career, his intent with singles and doubles, and the difficulties of opportunity on the doubles side.

Big thanks to our latest patreon sponsor Keith. You can help support the cause at patreon.com/behindtheracquetpod

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When Noah Rubin and Stefan Kozlov met in the Wimbledon 2014 final, it was thought to be one of the many steps in the progression for Stefan Kozlov, at the tender age of 16. Later that year, he knocked off his first top 100 player in Tim Smyczek, on the way to a CHALLENGER FINAL in Sacramento.

Some good runs at ATP events followed, a couple Challenger titles, and then he suddenly just slowly receded away from high level tennis. It's been nearly four years since his last final, but Koz sounds like he's found a path. The 22 year old joined Noah and Mike for a reflection on his last few years.

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A quick note from your editor, Mike: There was a major issue with Noah's recorder in Delray halfway through, along with another issue which you'll hear about....so there's a noticeable audio difference when we had to switch to a cell line. Apologies, it's all we could do in a rushed situation.

Now, a big thanks to our latest patreon sponsor, Steve Quick. He and our other patreon sponsors will be receiving a special pod later this week. You can join at patreon.com/behindtheracquetpod.

The tennis world is absolutely chaotic right now. Yet here we are, embarking on another season. What's the vibe like in Delray, where Noah kicks off his season in a couple days?

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Young American Reilly Opelka spoke with Mike during a trip to NorCal back in 2018. A heck of a lot has changed since then. He'd just started his foray in to fashion, but he's now a force on the Tour, with a couple of ATP titles in his pocket, and one of the most feared serves in the sport.

We talked to him about his growing health concerns, how he's adjusting to them, and where the sport is after a difficult 2020.

Thoughts and concerns, as always, to patreon.com/behindtheracquetpod!

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Jared Donaldson is just 24 years old, but has been out of action for essentially two years, since originally hurting his knee in the summer of 2018. It's not been a smooth process for him on the road to recovery. He walks us through his prognosis, and the reality of what's staring him in the face.

He also goes in the way back machine with his former Jr Davis Cup teammate Noah Rubin to discuss their epic win over Russia, featuring three future top 10 players.

We will also be releasing our patreon only episode this week. I promise. I've just been a little out of it the last few days, and need to get down to business.

Stay healthy everyone.

<3 Mike

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